Farming Support Systems for Smallholders Rubber Production in Jambi, Indonesia

Abstract

Abstract Rubber is one of the important agricultural commodities in Jambi, Sumatra, Indonesia. However, in developing rubber, especially smallholder plantations, there are still many obstacles existence. One of the efforts to overcome these problems is through the adoption of location-specific technological innovations. This paper described the efforts to introduce and disseminate local-specific rubber technology innovations in Jambi. Activities were carried out in several farmers’ plantations for several years (from 2010 to 2018). Numerous activities were applied in farmer fields such as assisting disease (JAP) control fertilization technology, training (SL-JAP) in replanting program, reducing dirty product contain (KKK)<55%, directing farmers to produce wind sheets and clean rubber products, increasing the role of farmer groups to partner with the private sector. The results showed that through mentoring and the introduction of site-specific technology: the average rubber productivity at the farmer level ranged from 1-1.2 tonnes/ha/year, in terms of the potential production can be reached up to 1.5-2 tonnes/ha/year, replanting, seeding, and improvement of seed quality, balanced fertilization recommendation, tapping shoot pattern and maintenance, and handling of harvest and post-harvest rubber products. The dissemination technologies that have been carried out by the Jambi AIAT as above will be described further in this paper.